Himes said that if Trump is innocent of collusion, then Congress should support the legislation.
After another report surfaced that President Donald Trump tried to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) called for legislation that would legally protect the special counsel from Trump’s dismissal.
“If the president is being investigated — if anybody is being investigated — the investigation should be allowed to play out,» Himes said on CNN’s «New Day» on Friday. «Obviously, in this case, firing [Mueller] would be a massive political problem.”
Himes suggested that Thursday’s New York Times report — which claimed White House counsel Don McGahn II threatened to resign if Trump fired Mueller — showed “steps towards obstruction of justice” but no actual obstruction.
“You know, he didn’t actually fire Mueller. So no act was committed,” he said.
But Himes apparently thought Thursday’s report was enough to push for new legislation.
“There’s something we can do about this and that we must do about this,” he said. “Congress should pass legislation that essentially gives the special counsel statutory standing authority so that the special counsel is not fireable.”
When CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked about Democratic efforts to push that type of legislation, Himes cited Republican dominance as an impediment.
“Well, needless to say, given Republican control of both houses, it hasn’t exactly been on a greased rail in the United States Congress,” he said.
On Friday, Trump denied trying to fire Mueller and derided the Times’s report as “fake news.”
“Typical New York Times,” he told reporters while entering the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion, referring to the Russia controversy as a “hoax” and “witch hunt.”
If those suspicions were a hoax, Himes argued, then Congress should be open to legislation protecting Mueller.
“If that is true, there is not a single reason for anybody to oppose the legislation, which would, you know, give the special counsel protection from being fired by this guy who says that he’s innocent,” he said.
Watch Himes’s comments below, via CNN.
